


Spice of Life

by Jairephix



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: One Shot, Quick mentions of others
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 05:32:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12248001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jairephix/pseuds/Jairephix
Summary: When you’re poor, spices are a treat.





	Spice of Life

When you’re poor, spices are a treat.

When they were young, not even 100 years old yet, the twins had learned that spices? Spices were essential for cooking and baking. A simple dish could be transformed into a work of art, merely by what you chose to season it with. They were just as young knowing that spices cost money and a place to keep them. That some spices are worth more than they had known was possible.

To them, their sudden, overwhelming knowledge of how little they had between them, was now tied to the thought of unseasoned food. Ownership of flavor was directly bound to the people who controlled how long they lived with them. Often, they didn’t want much more than salt or some ground pepper. The few rare times Lup and Taako even saw the more expensive, the bright colors and startlingly rich browns, they weren’t allowed to even touch.

It took the twins until settling, for a while, at the Institute. They nicked a few spices where they could, on the road. Sure, they may have stolen an entirely too large jar of cinnamon, and experimented with making everything with it. They learned the secret treat of cinnamon rolls, their absolute favorite thing alongside steaming cups of creamy hot cocoa (with more spices dashed into it, of course).

He was another mage, one who looked down on two homeless elves who were there purely on scholarship. Thought they were there for a free ride, used their past as a way to mock them. (Taako hated that. It would bother him for the rest of his life.) Greg Grimaldis knew they had come from nothing, and loved to rile them up. So he called them out in the common area one day. Demanded they show they could actually do anything useful with stolen goods. Greg Grimaldis bet her _fifteen dollars_ she couldn’t.

They put on a show. No magic, just the skills they had learned over their years, bouncing from home to home, bouncing from care to care. Forcing others to accept them as a single unit, as needed in their group. And, of course, it was Lup and Taako. They had to play up their charms, showcasing skills with nothing but showmanship and panache.

They made an entire pot roast using that cinnamon. Lup proved him wrong. It had been delicious. People loved it, asked them to do it more often.

Only Taako knew how much money that was for them. Only Taako understood that while that wasn’t much money for a lot of people, it was a good pile of riches for them. And, he loved the showiness of it all. He loved being over the top and ridiculous, and loved for it. Positive attention was...new. It was different. It gave him a rush that was unlike anything else. ( _Maybe I can have my own cooking show, after all this. Tour around, learn new dishes, make money teaching others to do what we do. I could afford my own spices._ Little did he know, he would. Just not yet.)

They worked hard. They fought, tooth and nail to the top, and graduated side by side. It was never one better than the other. No, they were the top together.

And that’s when they were tapped by the Institute to join a new program. One that would be reaching out beyond their plane, to explore new parts of their own planar system, to learn more. They were the best mages and best cooks at the school. They were wanted. They were going to be famous.

The Starblaster’s kitchen was stocked with more spices than they had ever seen in their life.

* * *

 

Taako hated traveling alone. It was...wrong. He didn’t know why it was, but it just. Was. He had his own cooking show, though. He’d wanted that for...for...he didn’t know how long. He remembered telling...someone about it. Maybe there wasn’t someone. Maybe he had just...thought of it.

His very first show, he didn’t have a big crowd. Just a few people from a small village. He was nervous, his hands shook, and he kept trailing off like he was expecting someone to join him right at the end. That was weird. He had always been alone. No one stayed by him.

But he did it, made note of what to change next. He had worked a miracle with just cream and chicken, and the people who came to watch were grateful. Taako took a bite of the leftover food, which had become his own dinner, and gagged. There was barely any flavor to it. Nothing that screamed amazing.

He felt so poor.

It took him another few shows to find a cabinet he had missed. Slowly cracking it open, his eyes went wide. Spices meant money.

Taako nearly cried from relief. He could do this, _they_ could--

Why was he thinking “they”? He was alone?

But...but maybe not as alone as he thought, after all. If he was smart, he could use this. Build a brand, get an assistant.

* * *

 

“Merle, I swear to shit, you get your unkempt beard OUT of my kitchen.” Taako shooed the cleric out. Shooed was too light a word. He was leveling a chef’s knife at the dwarf. It was his first time cooking for their adoptive family in over a decade, the first time cooking with his sister again, and he was _not_ going to have it ruined by old man beard hairs ending up in _any_ dish.

“I just wanted to know what herbs you were going to put on the chicken!”

“ANY. Unseasoned chicken is a _crime_ against life itself. Besides, I’m not making a chicken, you blind old kook!”

Lup’s timing was perfect, as she closed a cabinet, a jar in hand filled with a rich red-brown dust. “We’re making pot roast.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic was inspired by my own experiences. I had a long period of time where I couldn't afford the spices needed to bake or season anything. This hardwired my brain to believe that unseasoned food is a sign of poverty, and kicks me back to the times where it was pay rent or eat. I can imagine all too easily that Lup and Taako went through that too.


End file.
